DOCTORS in Knutsford are currently only able to see patients with medical emergencies following a huge surge in demand.

Knutsford Medical Partnership has sent text messages to more than 23,000 patients at their four sites to explain the crisis.

GPs have been overwhelmed with up to 60 patients a day over the past two weeks.

That’s almost three times the recommended number of consultations.

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Samantha Pownall, executive manager of Knutsford Partnership Trust, said: “We are currently only able to see medically urgent problems.

“The reason for this is that over the last two weeks we have seen a significant surge in requests for urgent appointments.

“This is largely related to the outbreak of group A Strep in babies and children, but is also significantly impacted by prolonged hospital waits, limited access to ambulance services and overloaded Accident and Emergency departments.”

Patients at Manchester Road Medical Centre, Toft Road Surgery, Town Lane Surgery and Annandale Medical Centre have been told that routine appointments will not be available until the New Year.

Some residents say this has left them feeling anxious and worried.

One 80-year-old woman told the Guardian: “This is appalling.

“However short-staffed they are, someone ought to be on hand all the time.

“It is a long time to wait until January to see a doctor.”

A safe level of patient contacts per day for a GP should ideally not be more than 25 contacts per day, according to the European Union of General Practitioners and the British Medical Association.

“Over the last two weeks our GPs have had upwards of 50-60 contacts per day,” said Ms Pownall.

“As a result of this we have had to devote all our resources to managing same day demand.

“Unfortunately, we cannot safely meet this level of urgent demand and provide pre-booked surgeries for routine problems.”

Many GPS, they say, are already doing extra regular days to help meet demand and cover sickness.

A severe shortage of space means the partnership has nowhere to accommodate additional staff.

"We are currently working to the absolute capacity of our buildings with every clinical room being in use at all times," said Ms Pownall.

"This means even if we could find extra doctors to help, which is a challenge in itself, there would be nowhere we could offer them to do their clinics."

However, doctors stress that surgeries are still open.

“We want to be clear that people should still contact us if they are concerned,” said Ms Pownall.

“We are open and available for urgent issues for patients of all ages.

“We would advise that if someone is not sure about the urgency of their issue then they should contact us and we can advise on appropriate action.

“Our aim is to be able to offer routine appointments again starting from the first week of January.”